2o82 A TEXTBOOK OF THEORETICAL BOTANY 



the Wild Rice used as a cereal by the North American Indians. Rice 

 may be conveniently divided into two kinds according to the conditions of 

 growth: hill rice, which is only cultivated by wild tribes, and swamp rice, 

 which is extensively cultivated in south-eastern Asia, south India, China, 

 Japan, South America and southern Europe. The grain in the husk is 

 known as paddy, hence the term paddy fields which is frequently applied 

 to the flooded, terraced land in which rice is grown. 



II. Panicoideae 



Spikelets two-flowered, falling entire at maturity, usually with the 

 upper flower fertile and the lower male or barren; in the latter case often 

 reduced to the outer palea; all alike or differing in size, shape and structure; 

 frequently dorsally compressed. 



This sub-family includes only three tribes according to Hubbard, but 

 among the genera are a number of great economic importance and we shall 

 refer briefly to each of them. 



1. Paniceae. Annual or perennial plants with herbaceous or rarely 



woody stems, bearing linear, lanceolate or ovate leaves. Spikelets 

 usually similar, hermaphrodite or rarely unisexual, usually 

 falling entire at maturity; two-flowered, with the lower flowers 

 male or barren, with or without paleae and the upper herma- 

 phrodite. Spikelets arranged on a continuous rachis forming 

 solitary or scattered spikes, racemes or panicles. Glumes 

 usually membranous, lower usually smaller than the upper. 

 The lower outer palea similar to the upper glume; awnless or 

 with straight, short awn arising from the apex. Lodicules 

 usually two. Stamens generally three in number. 

 There are about eighty genera included in this tribe, which includes 

 grasses mainly of tropical and warm temperate countries. Many are 

 important fodder grasses of which we may mention the following genera: 

 Paniciim, Digitaria, Paspahim, Pennisetum. Others contribute cereals of 

 economic importance, among which we should refer to Pearl Millet, 

 Pemiisetum typhoideinn, which is extensively cultivated in India; Common 

 Millet, Panicum miliaceiitn, and Little Millet, P. miliare, both of which are 

 cultivated in eastern Europe and in India; and Sanwa Millet, Echinochloa 

 colona. The limits of the genera Poniciim and Echinochloa are much 

 disputed and a number of the commercial Millets are now considered to 

 belong to the latter genus. Other species of Panicum form important fodder 

 plants, e.g., Guinea Grass {P. maximum), Mauritius Grass {P. motte). Barn- 

 yard Grass (P. crus-galli) which is naturalized in parts of Britain, and Crab 

 or Panic Grass {P. sanguinale). Many are vegetatively distributed by 

 animals, for the joints of the stem will grow after passing through the 

 alimentary canal. 



2. Andropogoneae. Annual or perennial herbs frequently with tall 



stems, bearing linear, lanceolate or ovate leaves. Spikelets 

 usually in pairs, rarely in threes or solitary; one of each pair 



